


Other Women's Sons

by KrisEleven



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, POV Original Character, Season/Series 04, Website: Heart of Camelot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-21
Updated: 2013-03-21
Packaged: 2017-12-06 01:17:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisEleven/pseuds/KrisEleven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She didn't know where he'd come from, the strange lad who arrived on her doorstep in the middle of a rainstorm. She didn't know his secrets - but knew he carried one or two. But she was a mother to the bone, and always took the chance to care for other women's sons like she'd want them to care for her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Other Women's Sons

**Author's Note:**

> Written for The Heart of Camelot's Lyrics and Melodies challenge, for the song 'Don't Give Up'. I may do a multi-chapter based off this concept, one day, but for now the idea is that Merlin's magical revelation did not go well, and he has left Camelot behind. I mostly just enjoy watching canon characters through the eyes of OCs.

He was a strange lad. Arrived at her door, middle of a rainstorm, looking for work! As if there was enough for the men already here; this wasn’t Camelot, with endless trades to ply. 

But the mother in her couldn’t have turned him away. He wasn’t a child, but hers had left long ago and she looked after other women’s sons since she couldn’t her own. She’d invited him in – just for the night, mind, to stop that shivering and get some warm food into him; he was far too skinny. 

But of course he was never quite not-skinny enough to be turned out.

She dried her hands on her apron as she watched him. There were shadows he carried that caught up when he thought no one could see. Those bright blue eyes dimmed, that dimpled grin of his faded away and his teeth worried his lip like they were fighting to let a secret free. She wondered what life he’d left behind that could make him watch the narrow road outside her farmhouse with such dedication. She couldn’t decide whether he feared someone would come looking, or was disappointed they hadn’t found him yet.

“Merlin, close the door,” she said. “I don’t have enough wood chopped to heat the countryside.”

He obeyed, his smile back in place. “I’ll chop more tomorrow,” he promised. 

He was a strange lad, no doubt, but she knew he was a good one. She didn’t know what he could be running from, to look so beaten, but he needed help to find the strength to turn back or forge ahead, to find where he belonged. She filled his plate, smiled indulgently at his joking, and gave him a warm, safe bed to sleep in.

For now, it would have to be enough.


End file.
